Library Chromebooks: FAQ

A Chromebook is a personal computer running the Google Chrome operating system (Chrome OS). The devices are designed to be used while connected to the Internet and support applications that reside on the Web, rather than traditional PC applications like Microsoft Office that reside on the machine itself.  Using web applications rather than traditional PC applications is known as cloud computing (basically, online storage and software).

In order to check out a Chromebook you must be:

• A current HCC student in good standing with the HCC Libraries
• With no overdue library materials

To borrow a library Chromebook you must be a current full or part-time HCC student in good standing (no library holds), provide a current Student ID card, and a photo ID at the time of checkout.

Chromebooks may be renewed online or in person within three days of the due date. Log in to your HCC Library account.to find the due date or to renew online. You will receive a courtesy notice 3 days before the due date.

Just open the lid of your Chromebook and press the power button. To turn off your Chromebook, just close the lid. Shutting the lid puts a Chromebook into sleep mode -- it will start up when you raise the lid. You may also shut down your Chromebook from the logon screen, by clicking on the Shut Down button in the lower left-hand corner for a second. The Chromebook will immediately shut down.

The library’s Chromebooks can be used for: 

• Internet browsing
• Composing and checking email
• Online learning labs (but usually not publisher sites requiring a plugin
• Taking notes
• Generating and editing documents

You can only login using your HCC email address (W#@hccs.edu). Your initial password is your library barcode #. When you open the Chromebook, you must login to a Wi-Fi network. If you are on campus, it will automatically connect to the HCC Wi-Fi. If you are at home or out somewhere, you must connect to a different Wi-Fi. Once logged in, you’re instantly on the Web and automatically have access to your Google services, e.g., Gmail, calendar, Google Drive, Docs, Sheets, etc.

Kind of. You must use your HCC email to login to the computer, but once you are connected, you can access or add any other accounts you’d like from the browser just like normal.

A few things to check: click on the task bar in the lower right corner to make sure that the battery level is at or above 30 percent; use the powercord to login and/or charge the battery to the appropriate level; make sure the selected Wi-fi is on and HCCPublic is selected or use a Mobile HotSpot. If you cannot login because the login screen has disappeared try these steps.

Yes and no. Feel free to change layouts, settings, and accessibility options. Nothing you change or add will be seen by anyone else who uses the computer, in fact it will all be deleted once you log out or shut down. But, everything you change or add will be saved in the cloud with your Google account. The next time you use a Chromebook your previous settings will be available.

If you download something like a PDF, Word document, image, video, or audio file, they will all go to the “Files” folder on the computer (you can’t save anything to the desktop). You can find the “Files” folder in the Launcher on the bottom left corner of the screen. You can open or play most file formats from the Files folder, but anything left in there when you log off or shut down will be deleted, so make sure you move anything you need from there to a flash drive, external drive, SD card, or into the cloud somewhere.

Yes. In fact you should be able to access most websites with no problems.

Publisher websites that require installation of a plugin cannot be used on a Chromebook.  Those plugins are available for MAC and Windows operating systems, but not for the Chrome operating system (Chrome OS).

Yes. You can attach a flash drive, external hard drive, or SD card, and view or play files directly from it. You can also view or play files from a cloud server such as Google Drive or Dropbox. You can move files over to the computer to play them, but remember that the hard drive is less than 2 Gigs, so they may not fit if they’re too large. For certain file types, you may also need to download a different App to play it.

Your Chromebook login is actually the login to a Google account that the HCC Libraries have created for you. In order to change the password you have to log in to your HCC Google email account (yes, you have that, too!) with the same credentials and change your password there. The next time you log in to any HCC Chromebook you will use the password you created.

Please keep in mind that the HCC Google account is owned by HCC and will be deleted or suspended once you are no longer a student at HCC. If you are creating documents or sending emails that you wish to keep after your HCC career is finished, you should create and use a personal Google account for everything except logging in to the Chromebook.

Very! As soon as you log out and/or shut down the computer it will erase everything about you from the system. Any changes you made are saved on the Google servers though, so if you log back in, it will revert back to your options. If you downloaded any files though, be sure to save them to a flash drive, SD card, external drive, or somewhere in the cloud, because all downloaded files will be erased.

Chromebooks use a different operating system than Windows or MacOS, called ChromeOS. You cannot install regular programs. BUT, there are plenty of other options. As a student, you have access to Microsoft Office 365 which is provided by HCC. It includes a cloud-based version of Office complete with Word Online, Excel Online, and PowerPoint Online. You can also use your Google Drive, including Docs, Sheets, and Slides, or any other online program you can normally access from a web browser.

There is no optical drive of any sort. But you can access outside media via a flash drive, SD card, external hard drive, or from cloud storage.

No, along with deleting the history and removing account login information all saved data will be removed from the device upon shutdown.

Absolutely! In fact, that’s the whole point. A Chromebook only has a very small hard drive, in fact ours only have about 2 Gigabytes of space available. You probably have a flash drive in your book bag right now with more storage! And remember, anything you don’t save somewhere else will be deleted when you log out.

There is an audio input/output jack, 1 USB 2.0, 1 USB 3.0, 1 HDMI, and 1 SD card slot. Please do not use a slot that is covered with tape as that slot is defective.

For security reasons very few popups are allowed on the HCC Library Chromebooks. Popups from HCC sites are allowed.

Popups from third-party publishers, such as MyMathLab, Pearson, or McGraw-Hill are disabled, although some features of the publisher sites may work on a Chromebook without the popup/plugin.

Those popups are actually asking you to install plugins for those course and textbook sites. The plugins are available for Windows and Macs, but not for Chromebooks because the Chromebooks run on the Chrome operating system (Chrome OS). Most publishers do not have plugins available for the Chrome OS.

If you need to use the publisher websites you could check out an available laptop instead and try to install the software you need.

If you discover that a plugin (App) is what you need for your coursework and it is available for use on ChromOS, please let us know and we will follow-up on its availablility to be installed on the Chromebook.